Lauren and I had the opportunity to see the latest National Treasure movie. We were both blessed enough to be able to take off of work the day after Christmas so we took advantage of this and went to the theater. Both of us were really looking forward to seeing the second National Treasure movie since we enjoyed the first one so much. Now that I’ve actually seen a movie somewhat close to the release date (December 21, 2007), I thought I’d share a brief review.

The Book of Secrets closely follows the successful pattern of the first movie—adventurous, semi-historic treasure hunting. While some have criticized the movie from not being drastically different than the first offering, I did not view this as a problem. I’m not sure what the viewers with this particular criticism were expecting; I mean the movie is a sequel with the same characters, etc. In my mind you can’t veer too far from the original premise or you won’t have a logical sequel.

National Treasure 2 was a logical and worthy sequel to the first movie. All of the main characters and respective actors/actresses you’d expect to see made an appearance along with a few new additions. The film brings plenty of new puzzles, historic sites (including a few outside of the United States this time around), and perilous adventure.

How does the movie stack up to the original? If you enjoyed the first National Treasurethen you’ll like Book of Secrets. It is not as good as the first movie but it’s awfully close. The only reason I say it is not as good as the first is because I had an idea of what to expect from the movie going in whereas with the first film everything (i.e., semi-historically based treasure hunting, characters, etc.) was completely new to me.
Additionally, the movie manages to offer all of these things in a very family friendly manner. I do not recall any offensive language or overly explicit sexuality. The violence is kept to a minim with no blood or gore. However, as with most adventure movies there was some suspense and action violence though nothing of great concern. This movie really is a treasure for the entire family.

If you enjoyed my review, feel free to give it a positive rating on the product reviews page at Amazon. I think it would be cool to be one of the top reviewers.